Artist Details: Dean Roberts/Werner Dafeldecker

Dean Roberts and Werner Dafeldecker seem
unlikely collaborators at first glance. Roberts,
who originally hails from New Zealand, began
his career delving into guitar drones and
feedback, both in the trio Thela and on his
own, under the name White
Winged Moth. He founded the label
Formacentric Disk in order to document a
wider range of his work, and released four
projects in two years. In 1998, he began
working with the influential German label Mille
Plateaux, who put out his much acclaimed All
Cracked Medias, and earlier this year, And the
Black Moths Play the Grand Cinema, on their
more experimental sublabel Ritornell.

Dafeldecker, a lifelong resident of Vienna, is
probably best known for being an integral
member of the improv supergroup
Polwechsel, as well as for founding and
running the influential label Durian. He’s
composed numerous pieces for various
classical ensembles, and also appears on
two recent notable CDs, Printer (Durian), and
Martin Siewert’s Komfort 2000 (Charhizma).
Originally primarily a bassist,
Dafeldecker has been working more with
guitar and electronics recently, both of which
he plays to great effect on Aluminium.

Aluminium was recorded during a marathon
studio session in Vienna in April, and was
brilliantly mastered by Tim Barnes. Both
musicians play guitar and electronics, along
with occasional percussion on a hi-hat placed
between them. On the first track, Dafeldecker’s
sine wave electronics intersect with Roberts’
rough guitar textures, priming the listener’s
aural palette for the marathon track which
follows. This half hour long piece is a
atmospheric exploration fusing the legacy of AMM with the spirit of rock and roll.